i have been told that efi has advantages offroad, though i don't know what those advantages are. anyway, which is preferred (a carb or efi) for power, and off-road dependability and why?

what i really want to know is, if i was to stick with my efi, how could i improve it?

if i switched to a carb, exactly what would i need to change, add, and/or get rid of? and would it be possible to pass smog in CA? just curious.

thanks

 

I'm not much of a mechanic, but what i've read in the 4WD mags is that carbs will tend to flood out at extreme angles (like rock crawling and steep hills) whereas an EFI engine will keep puttering along.

But conversely, most of your cool power mods work better (or even at all) with a carbed system since you can tweak stuff by hand instead of having your engine parameters go outside of what the computer can handle.

I hope that makes sense, heck it may even be right...

 

You didn't tell us the year and model of your truck, and what engine/trans you have. These could help. As for CA smog laws, forget about converting to a carb if your truck came with EFI. The only way around this would be to register your truck in a county that does not require bi-annual smog checks (like Alpine and Amador). Even if you do register it in a rural county, you would have to re-instll all the EFI stuff when you go to sell it.

EFI gives you easier cold and hot starting, better mileage, lower emisions and smoother running. It also constantly adjusts the air-fuel mixture based upon many variables, including altitude. So, as you are rumbling along off-road and gain altitude, your engine stays in tune. A carburated engine begins to run rich as you gain altitude. By the time you reach 6,000 feet you need to rejet it or live with it running very rich (easy to flood when cold starting).

Carburated engines are much easier for most of us to modify for power or torque. However, since EFI engines have been installed on Ford cars and trucks for more than 10-years, there are many people out there who know how to modify them to get exactly what you want.

Hope this helps.

Bruce

 

yes it does help, and it's much appreciated.

 

i own an 89 fullsize bronco, w/i-6 w/c-6 set up, i would not trade my efi for nothing in the world (and yes i was a hardcore carb freek)i had a buddy that owned a 79 ford pick-up with i-6, carb version, its peformance was lacking to say the least, i was reluctant to order mine from the factory with the i-6, but price constraints limited my abilities to equip it with the 302, but i was really amazed with the performance of the i-6 with efi, i dont tow, my tires are only 31 in. the performance is almost like that of a small block, efi for me.

 

The efi 300-inch I-six has 260 ft lb torque. The 302 v-8 gets 270 ft lbs--not much difference. The 302 gets quite a bit more horsepower, though, but that is because the torque comes on at higher RPM. According to the manual the 300 inch I 6 has fatter main bearing journals (2.40") than the 302 v8 (2.25") and has 7 mains vs the 302's 5. Conecting rod journals are the same in both, though. I'll take the 300 incher. I am on my 3rd one now.